Tigers alumni reflect on 70 years of football

And the good ol' days are full of stories

“The phone rings – it’s the RCMP. I’m on the phone with the RCMP, I hear all this screaming and yelling in the background, ‘Coach! You gotta get me out of here. Coach, they’re gonna keep me here!’ The RCMP officers says, ‘I’m sorry, he can’t get out from the game’—I was trying to get him out for the game. Here’s the story: he meets this girl with a bunch of friends of his and he really likes the girl and they’re very friendly. So the girl, they exchange phone numbers. She says she’s staying in the hotel about five miles down the road and Peter’s going to meet her. Peter, knowing he could be late getting back, he changes into his entire football uniform and he walks down the main street…the girl is in the hotel room waving at him on the first floor, so he starts toward the door and she’s pointing toward the window. So he starts climbing into the window of the hotel room and the girl disappears. They’d already called the cops, police pull up, grab Peter for breaking and entering and off he goes to the clinker.”
-Bob Thayer, Tigers coach, 19373-77

photo by : Patrick Fulgencio

“So I’m going to give the first address – here’s the young, serious football coach. And I’m going to talk how we operate – health – and the other thing I was going to do is talk about smoking. What I was going to say was: ‘If I catch any of you guys with a cigarette, I’m gonna kick your ass.’ What came out instead was: ‘If I catch any of you guys with a cigarette up your ass.’ So the seriousness disappeared.”
-Merv Shaw, Dalhousie Tigers coach, 1958

photo by : Patrick Fulgencio

“I got sucker punched and ended up breaking about four or five of my front teeth. But I got it all fixed up by going to Dal dentist school!”
-Robin Falconer, Dalhousie Tigers football player, 1957

photo by : Patrick Fulgencio

“On my birthday, I got my shoulder dislocated and I left the game in the second quarter. And I was in a lot of pain and they put me on morphine….I’m supposed to go out with my girlfriend that night to dinner at Henry House and then we’re going to see Lighthouse. I’m in there and people are going up to me, saying, ‘Are you okay?’ But I was high on morphine – I was high! Concert’s over and people are still coming up to me, asking if I’m okay, and I’m saying, ‘Best concert I’ve ever seen in my life!’” -Rick Rivers, Dalhousie Tigers quarterback, 1969-71

photo by : Patrick Fulgencio

“In ’67, we were playing St. Mary’s for the city championship and we were major underdogs, and at half-time, we were a hit. All of the sudden, the stands started filling up. We went from about 1000 people to, at the end of the game, 5000 people, from what I could see. For the weeks afterwards, all the Dalhousie jackets came out, and everyone was wearing Dal gear. It was a real flip in excitement for the school. And we beat them 21-13 and won the city championship!” -Barrie Black, Dalhousie Tigers football player, 1965-1968